Monday, May 4: Activism, History, and Controversy in Detroit, and the Mayor in Lansing

We got on the bus at 7am and left Central Campus in Ann Arbor for Detroit. Our first stop was Focus:Hope, where we learned about their projects to overcome poverty and hunger in Detroit. We toured their machinist training center, the food bank, and the day care center, but the highlight was a brief talk by Eleanor Josaitis, one of the founders of Focus:Hope. She talked about the day after the riots in 1967, how she and Father Cunningham were walking together in the streets of Detroit, protesting the violence, and they decided they needed to do something about it. She picked up her family and five kids from the suburbs and moved into the city, and together she and Father Cunningham started an organization to overcome racism, poverty and injustice. She told us about the racist comments and hate mail that she received, but she told us that there are two choices: you can deck the SOBs or outclass them. I think she has succeeded brilliantly at the latter. Her closing words to us were to "change the world." She is quite the role model to look up to.

We then took a driving tour of downtown Detroit, seeing many of the beautiful buildings that still survive. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go into any of them. We also learned some "fun facts" about Detroit such as that they eat more potato chips than any other city. We had lunch at the Detroit Historical Museum, although since it was closed, we didn't get a chance to see the exhibits. Instead, we had a buffet lunch (with some amazingly good corned beef sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies) and learned more about the city.

The presentation started out with a great overview by Jacob Corvidae, Green Programs Manager for WARM, who talked about how Detroit can save the world. As a city, Detroit is on the forefront of declining, post-industrial cities, and has the opportunity to learn how to deal with the coming changes worldwide. One of the opportunities is that Detroit has a lot of space. In fact, Boston, Manhattan, and San Francisco could all fit within the city boundaries. He talked about how new programs and policies must work like the laws of nature, in which waste is turned into food and the loops are closed. He noted that since the fall of the USSR, more than 80% of the food eaten in the city of Havana is grown within the city limits organically, and mentioned that urban agriculture and community gardens may have a role to play in the revitalization of Detroit (of course, I think the growing season in Havana is somewhat longer than that in Detroit!) He reminded us not to forget, however, that the problems to be overcome are difficult — "many have sailed into Detroit on the ship of opportunity only to be crushed on the rocks of reality."

Next up was a panel discussion on the new bridge project from Detroit to Windsor. There are two competing proposals. The one from the Detroit International Bridge Company, who owns the Ambassador Bridge (yes, it is privately held), would build a second 6-lane span right next to the current bridge. The other, by MDOT, would be further downriver. THe international traffic has been increasing due to NAFTA (although the current economic downturn has decreased it somewhat), and the increase in border security has contributed to congestion at the border crossing. 28% of US-Canada trade goes through Detroit, and another 13% goes through Port Huron, so the SE Michigan border crossings play a major role. You can drive from Toronto to Mexico City and only encounter 18 stoplights — 16 in Canada, and 2 in Detroit (between the bridge and the freeway). If I understood the presentations correctly, these two stoplights in Detroit will be eliminated when the new bridge is built.

We then drove to Lansing, where we had a reception with the alumni society and some of the incoming freshmen to UM in the fall. I met one woman who wants to study Mechanical Engineering, she seemed really excited and enthusiastic. During dinner, we got a presentation from Virg Bernero, Mayor of Lansing, who exhorted us to not forget about manufacturing jobs, since we need a strong base on which to build our economy. He was an extremely passionate speaker and I can understand why he is popular on talk shows and news broadcasts — he says it like he thinks it, and it not afraid to be controversial. He had to leave to go to a city council meeting, and so his economic development director Bob Trezise told us how Lansing is trying to move beyond the stable state and university jobs (and formerly-stable automotive jobs) into more diversified industries. I was surprised to learn that there are several insurance companies headquartered in Lansing. Another theme (that would emerge multiple times during the week) was creating a "sense of place", where people wanted to work and live. He mentioned a lot of low-hanging fruit in such a sleepy town, such as the fact that downtown Lansing didn't have any street festivals (they do now). They are also working with East Lansing and the township to develop the main drag Michigan Avenue.

After dinner my friend Don who lives in Lansing came to pick me up at the hotel, and took me by to see his mom, then out for a beer at The Spartan Hall of Fame. A long, exhausting, but interesting first day as a Road Scholar.

Tuesday, May 5: Cars and Legislators in Lansing, and Scholars in Grand Rapids

We started the day at the GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant. The plant itself is LEED certified as being environmentally-conscious. While we were in the bus in the parking lot, former Lansing Mayor David Hollister came on and told us the story of the plant. While he was Mayor, GM gave him good news and bad news. The good news was that they were going to throw a big party for the 100 year anniversary of Oldsmobile. The bad news was that they were going to close the Lansing plants. He mobilized a group of community leader to "Keep GM". They put up billboards, got buy-in from local governments, and created a small committee that GM would deal with instead of each regional authority (city, county, township, power, water, etc) for all of their needs (there were 128 administrative units all together). There was a small "quick-response" team, a medium-sized "blue ribbon" panel, and a larger group that included everybody who wanted to help. It was a persistent and relentless campaign, but it worked. When the news of the closings originally got out, some city council members thought that if GM left, then Lansing would be more like Ann Arbor — "quiche and wine instead of beer and bowling" — but these attitudes did not survive the next election. They worked closely with the plant workers. To demonstrate how good the GM workers were, the plant manager launched the Alero on the 2nd shift. THe mayor bought the first one off the line, and his cabinet bought the next several cars. GM built two new plants — the one we visited is physically in Delta Township, but politically it has been annexed to the city of Lansing for 50 years. Hollister was a firebrand, but of a different caliber than Virg.

After the introduction, we got to tour the plant. We were there at the same time as the Treasury Department who were evaluating GM. It is always fun to watch an assembly line. I had heard about AGVs that supply parts to the line, but had never seen them in action before. It was also kind of interesting to see the training area with the "simulated work environments" where workers learn about the different processes (although they didn't look very realistic). They make three different vehicles on the same line (Buick, GMC, and Saturn) but they are all based on the same platform. The parts arrive just-in-time at the stations, coming from a nearly supply facility. Our tour guides told us how well the workers at the plant worked together and with management, and how high quality their product is. They also reminded us that there was one automaker that two years ago had to recall more cars than the built, but many people still feel that they have a great reputation for quality (the automaker was Toyota).

Tiger Stadium

SWE = Simulated Work Environment

Grand River, Lansing

After the auto plant tour, we went back downtown for a quick tour of the State Capitol Building. It is Michigan's third state capitol building. The first one was in Detroit, but they moved it to Lansing because they were afraid of being attacked by the British. Lansing was in the middle of nowhere when the moved the capitol there, and so the second building was quite small. The current building was the first state capitol to have a dome, and earned the architect a lot more commissions. There was a plan in the 1970's to demolish it and build a modern building based on inverted pyramids — perhaps luckily, the state was broke and had to scrap the demolition plan. In the 1980's the building was renovated and is now a national historic site, with more Victorian-style hand-painted decoration than anywhere else. It is a beautiful building and quite a treasure.

State Capitol Dome

State Capitol Dome

State Capitol

We had lunch with two legislators, both UM alums. Due to term limits, new legislators often choose a topic and try to become an expert in that area, because there isn't time to be a generalist and learn everything about everything. While the loss of expertise must be worrisome, the influx of young, energetic legislators has to be a positive outcome of the limits. Jeff Mayes is on the energy committee. He described energy these days as like the "wild west." Wide open, lots of possibilities, many people trying to take advantage of the opportunities, but nobody quite sure what they are or how things will come out. He represents an region of the state where wind energy is coming, but the issues with grid connectivity have yet to be sorted out. Andy Coulouris is on the banking and finance committee; he has introduced legislation that would require lenders to meet face-to-face with homeowners and try to modify the loan before foreclosing (it passed). This would incentivize loan modifications (re-negotiate the deal) which often is better for both sides than foreclosure. A question was asked about the "moral hazard," would people just try to renegotiate a deal instead of taking a second job to pay the existing mortgage, but he said people already are taking advantage of the crisis by leaving a house to foreclosure and moving across the street to a very similar house at a fraction of the price.

Our lunch meeting was in the Christman Building, the first double-platinum LEED certified renovation of an existing building (the building was fabulous but the lunch less than stellar, more chicken and overcooked lasagna). The Michigan Municipal League is on the first floor. We learned a little bit about their work to try to re-invigorate cities, and especially downtowns. Their research shows that you need to build great places, where people want to go and live. The jobs will go where the people are. It's too bad that this approach wasn't in vogue when the Renaissance of Detroit was envisioned in the 1970's.

The legislators were off to the House session, and we were off on a driving tour of Michigan State University. It is a huge campus. We got a chance to walk through their horticultural and 4-H gardens, but the highlight was the ice cream from their dairy (one perk of being an ag school!) There were a variety of flavors passed through the bus, I got Coffee Toffee (yum).
Then it was off
to Grand Rapids. We had dinner there with the local students who had won scholarships from the UM alumni association. It was nice to meet them (including another prospective Mechanical Engineer) and their parents. Another banquet dinner with chicken (and more ice cream).

Wednesday, May 6: Art in Grand Rapids, Furniture in Holland, and Community in Cadillac

In the morning, we went to the West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology, where they run after-school art programs for at-risk high school kids, as well as job training programs during the day. They have a beautifully-designed space, and offer healthy snacks for the kids. The director, Luisa Schumacher, is quite a dynamo. They told us that the graduation rate for the Grand Rapids Public Schools is 67% if you count students who start their senior year, but only 37% if you count students who start their freshman year. For the students who participate in WMCAT, the rate is 80%. After telling us about their programs, they gave us some workshops — half of us got to morph our faces into animals, and the other half took photographs with pinhole cameras and developed them. It was a fun change of pace.

Leila Schumacher at WMCAT

Photoshop Exercise at WMCAT

Photoshop Exercise at WMCAT

After a quick stop at the UM-partner Metro Health Cancer Center in Wyoming, we were off to Holland and Herman Miller. Their furniture manufacturing facility is in another LEED-certified building. In 1953, their owner stated a goal that they should be "good stewards of their environment." First, they told us about their wildflower prairie. They had designed it to reduce lawn care, but it attracted a bunch of wasps which soon infiltrated the manufacturing plant. After investigating the pesticide possibilities (expensive and not environmentally-friendly), they learned that honeybees will keep wasps away, since they are more aggressive and basically eat up all of the food in a one-mile radius. So now they keep honeybees on the property, and each visitor gets a small jar of honey was a souvenir.

Herman-Miller has been working with Toyota to implement the
Toyota Production System (of course as the HMPS), and have increased their on-time and complete rate from 68% to 99.6%. They don't build any furniture until it is ordered, and it is now cheaper to produce in (and ship from) Michigan than Mexico or China. It is not a union shop, but they say they pay wages that are $4/hr above union scale. All employees are cross-trained, and they switch tasks every hour to reduce ergonomic problems and alleviate boredom. They ship their products in "blanket-wrap" instead of corrugated cardboard when they can, to reduce waste and save money. They also use materials that are recyclable and/or compostable, and make them easy to disassemble (use screws instead of glue).

Herman-Miller invented the cubicle in 1968, and you can still buy components that will fit with your vintage office furniture. They are continuing to re-design and re-invent the workplace, it was great fun to walk around their showrooms and their programmable offices (you can reprogram the lighting wiring with a remote control). They were also very proud of their open-style executive offices that were only 130 sq ft, glass that can change from transparent to opaque, and "pink noise" that disguises the conversations within. They also served us a fabulous lunch with salmon (a welcome break from chicken, although of course there was chicken too) but also roasted vegetables, salad, and delicious desserts.

Art at WMCAT

Executive Office at Herman Miller

Herman Miller Design Farm

We then headed up to Cadillac, where we had a panel discussion with city leaders. They told us about their cooperative spirit and "let's do it" attitude. We heard about the challenges in the school system (including bullying and teen pregnancy) from the superintendent, and the challenges in manufacturing from two presidents of manufacturing companies — Avon Automotive and Four Winns boats. The president of the local Baker College was there, as was the owner of the Cadillac News (Ann Arbor's paper is closing this July, they will probably outlast us). We also learned that in Cadillac they make gas masks for the military, and grow a lot of Christmas trees. Repeating a common theme, they said that they were working to make Cadillac a place where people want to live. The president of Avon Automotive admitted that he has a global business, and actually does very little manufacturing in Cadillac anymore. The reason that they are still in Cadillac is because he wants to live there. The meeting was at McGuire's Resort, where we also stayed overnight. It was a great place, but we missed the chance to see the downtown and the "place" that they were talking about. The dinner was refreshingly chicken-free (I chose the walleye over the steak), and the chocolate-covered cheesecake dessert was over-the-top.

Thursday, May 7: Farms in McBain, Tribes in St. Ignace, and Fudge on Mackinac

We started with a tour of a wind farm near McBain. It was a little rainy, so after a brief stint outside we went back in the bus and admired the view of the two wind turbines while hearing about the project. There are currently plans afoot to add 7 more turbines to the site. Only a small plot within the farm is disrupted; the tractor can go right up to and underneath the turbine (although the footings go down quite deep). The turbines were built in Germany (each generator is about as big as a school bus) and cost about $3M each ($15M including shipping, installation, etc). In order to add more capacity, they would need to increase the voltage at the substation, but that would require upgrades on the whole grid, which would be quite expensive. Connectivity is a challenge for wind power, since the best winds are often found in remote locations. The control is done remotely via fiber-optic cables. The revenue from the turbines goes not only to the farmer on whose land they are on but also to other farmers within a certain radius, to compensate them for the degraded view, occasional loud noises, and potential lack of opportunity to install a wind turbine on their land in the future due to limited density.

Then it was off to the Benson Dairy Farm, where Jill Benson gave us a fabulous tour. They have 1000 acres and 140 cows. It takes almost 3 hours to do the milking (twice a day), but with 8 kids, they don't have to hire employees (yet). They grow all of the hay, oats, corn, rye, etc. to feed the cows, but need to harvest and store it to last over the winter. The cows stay in the barn instead of in the pasture, because the EPA has decided that cows can't stay in the same pasture for more than 30 days; after that, they need to be moved. So they take all the manure out of the barn and put it into a big pit, then spray it over the ground. Seems like a lot of extra energy, but then it is mostly mechanical energy, whereas getting 140 cows from far-flung pastures back to the milking barn twice a day would require mostly human energy (with some help from a dog). They had to expand the manure pit recently, but got some grants from different government organizations (Jill has a degree in Agricultural Economics from MSU). We talked some about pollution but she was more concerned with homeowners spraying TrueGreen or ChemLawn on their grass next to the lake than anything farmers use (which is highly regulated). The business is tough — she said they could make a reasonable living if milk was at $14, but it is currently about $12 (per 100 lbs, or about 12 gallons of raw milk). While we were there, the tanker truck came to pick up their milk (from the previous evening and the morning's milkings). He also took a small sample of their milk, because if there is any problem with the whole tank (water, dirt, or antibiotics in it) then they test all the sample, and whichever farmer had the problem milk gets to buy the whole tank. Milk with water can be used for cheese, and milk with dirt can be used to make some other products, but milk with antibiotics goes down the drain. As Jill said, you try not to make any expensive mistakes, but that's why you have insurance. Some of her neighbors have more than 1000 cows and milk 24/7 with hired help (mostly Mexicans). She was also concerned about a new development nearby, people moving to the country to get away from it all, but don't like the sounds and smells that are associated with farming.

Deb at Wind Farm

Benson Dairy Farm

Benson Dairy Farm

On the way to the UP, we stopped at Big Buck Brewery in Gaylord for lunch. I had the venison reuben which was quite tasty — the spice of corned beef without all the grease. Their IPA wasn't bad either — I wasn't driving, and besides we had quite a haul to get to St. Ignace. We crossed the Mackinac Bridge and headed to a hotel to chat with Cecil Pavlat from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He burned some sage to clear any negativity in the room, drummed and sang a bit, and then talked to us about repatriation of Indian remains. The University of Michigan has refused to turn over their collections, and it has been the cause of some controversy and dissatisfaction. I hope they decide quickly to do the right thing.

We took the last ferry of the day over to Mackinac Island, where we had a small fudge reception (and bought plenty of delicious fudge). After the few tourists left on the last ferry, we almost had the island to ourselves. We stayed at the charming Lilac Tree Inn; my room had a great view of the water. It was a relaxing evening, our last night of the tour, with a nice reception in the Pink Pony and another delicious chicken-free dinner (prime rib) at the Chippewa Hotel. A long-time resident told us some stories about living on the island, including a few ghost stories! It is a beautiful place to live, but can be isolated when the weather is bad; all supplies come over from the mainland.

Jill Benson and Milk Truck

Lilac Tree Inn

Kinross Prison

Friday, May 8: Prison in Kinross and Solar Cells in Hemlock

After a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs overlooking the water from the Chippewa Hotel dining room, we were back on the ferry and bus again on our way to the Kinross Correctional Facility.
This former Air Force base was turned into a prison 30 years ago (the landing strip is still there and remains the 3rd designated landing spot for the space shuttle). Michigan spends $2B/year on its prisons, about 20% of the state general fund, and more than 30% of state employees work in correctional facilities. Michigan's incarceration rate is is 47% higher than other Great Lakes states and 9th in the nation. It is a huge business in the UP, even though most of the inmates come from the lower peninsula. Michigan keeps inmates on average about one year longer than either the national or Great Lakes average. We are one of only four states that spends more on prisons than on higher education.

It was interesting to see the yard where the prisoners were hanging out — but not smoking. The law against smoking in state facilities also applies to prisons, and so none of the inmates or staff are allowed to smoke on the premises (hopefully the legislature can get their act together soon to pass the state-wide smoking ban). The inmates are required to be either taking classes, working in a job, or on a job waiting list. The inmates use the money they earn to buy things in the canteen — toothpaste, soap, potato chips, etc. (no more cigarettes). They can also buy personal clothing (sweatsuits, shoes, etc.) from a list of approved items from certain vendors.

The food service employs 121 inmates, starting at 17 cents/hour (going up to 32 cents). They make most of the food from scratch (including baking their own bread and cookies), since it is cheaper than buying pre-made (also probably healthier). They use leftovers in the salad bar for pasta salads, glorified rice, even leftover sweet potatoes with marshmallows and whipped cream — most of the meal is portioned, but the salad bar is an extra portion and all-you-can eat. They feed each inmate on about $2.60 per day (not including labor).

The horticulture department grows flowers and plants from seeds; the flowers are donated to State facilities such as rest areas, etc. They have an annual budget of about $3500 and have 30 students at a time (half-day with books and half-day hands-on) plus 10 employees to tend to the greenhouses and gardens. There is another program that grows vegetables in the summer for the kitchen.

The most interesting tour was the garment factory, part of MSI. They make all of the uniforms for state police, road construction, etc. The Thinsulate Police jacket that the tour guide showed us
was quite impressively constructed. This is a better job than food service, starting at 35 cents and going up to 95 cents/hour. They are starting to do commercial business, such as making tote bags out of old banners, and making a line of children's clothing in a large size. They are not allowed to compete with any US companies, but since the garment industry left this country years ago that is not hard to demonstrate.

At 11am, we witnessed "count" (it happens several times per day). All of the prisoners had to be in their rooms, unless they were at their jobs. Somebody went through each floor and counted everybody who was there (four to a room in two bunk beds) and noted who was missing. Then the counts from each location were run to a central location and cross-referenced to make sure that everybody was accounted for. Our tour guide told us that it takes about 45 minutes for the whole process. They took us through one room — each bunk had a TV on it (each inmate has to buy their own TV), and there is one large locker plus a footlocker for each resident.

Our handout materials had a great story about an almost-escape from the prison in Esquire magazine, click the link to read the story or see the pictures.

Hemlock Semiconductor

Hemlock Semiconductor

Rainbow in Flint

Finally, we had a 4-hour bus ride to Hemlock where we visited Hemlock Semiconductor . They are located here in the middle of nowhere because when they started in the 1950's part of the process required low vibration, and this was a long ways from any major roads (but not too far from Saginaw, where Dow Chemical is based). They make high-quality silicon for the semiconductor industry, and have a recent focus on the highest-grade that is required for solar cells (99.999999999% or "Eleven Nines" pure). Although wind and solar will both be pieces of the alternative energy picture, he claimed that the total wind energy on the planet is only 3 TW whereas the total sun energy is 120,000 TW (I did not check these numbers). The large chemical processing plant went from producing 10,000 metric tons in 2004 to being on track for 30,000 metric tons in 2009. They are also opening a second "greenfield" plant in Tennessee. Factors that went into the decision were certainly tax credits but also a reliable source of power at a reasonable price.

On the way back home, we encountered a bit of rain — and a huge rainbow with Ann Arbor surely as the pot of gold at the end. We had had fabulous weather the whole week, only a sprinkling of rain at the wind farm, which must be a record for a week in Michigan.